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FAC SIMILES OF LETTERS 



FROM HIS EXCELLENCY 



GEORGE WASHINGTON, 



TO 



SIR JOHN SINCLAIR, BART., M. P. 




Fugrav.-jibj-JJ.iiiaii 




FAC SIMILES OF LETTERS 



FROM HIS EXCELLENCY 



GEORGE WASHINGTON, 

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 



TO 



SIR JOHN SINCLAIR, BART., M. P. 



ON 



AGRICULTURAL AND OTHER INTERESTING TOPICS; 



ENGRAVED FROM THE ORIGINAL LETTERS, SO AS TO BE AN EXACT FAC SIMILE 

OF THE HAND-WRITING. 



WASHINGTON: 
PUBLISHED BY FRANKLIN KNIGHT. 

E. G. DOBSEY, PRINTER, PHILADELPHIA. 

1844. 



TO 
THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



THE FOLLOWING 



LETTERS, 



WRITTEN BY 



THE ILLUSTRIOUS WASHINGTON, 

WHO MUST EVER BE REVERED, 



AS 



AN HONOUR TO THE COUNTRY WHERE HE WAS BORN, 



AND 



AN ORNAMENT TO HUMAN NATURE, 

ARE RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, 

BY 

THEIR SINCERE FRIEND, AND WELL-WISHER, 

JOHN SINCLAIR. 



PREFACE. 



A VARIETY of motives, which it may be proper briefly to state, have induced me 
to submit the follovping Letters to the attention of the pubhc. 

It could not but be highly gratifying to me, to be possessed of so many interesting 
communications from such a distinguished character as the President of the United 
States ; and it was natural to suppose, that the public at large, but more especially 
those individuals who revered his memory, would wish to have in their possession 
copies of a correspondence which displayed to such advantage the superior talents, 
the generous views, and the unbounded philanthropy of that celebrated statesman. 

The peculiar predilection which General Washington has so strongly and so 
frequently expressed, in the subsequent letters, for agricultural improvement, which 
he preferred to every other pursuit, is another circumstance which I was anxious 
should be recorded for the benefit both of the present and of future times, from a 
desire that it may make a due impression upon the minds of those who might 
otherwise be induced to dedicate themselves entirely, either to the phantoms of 
military fame, or the tortures of political ambition. 

The praises which this distinguished statesman has bestowed on the establishment 



8 

of the British Board of Agriculture, ("an Institution," he remarks, "of the utihty 
of which he entertained the most favourable idea from the first intimation of it; 
and that the more he had seen and reflected on the plan since, the more convinced 
he was of its importance, in a national point of view, not only to Great Britain, but 
to all other countries,"*) I was solicitous to record, as one means of protecting that 
valuable establishment from the risk to which it may be exposed from the ignorance 
or inattention of future ministers, who, incapable of estimating the merits of such 
an Institution themselves, or conceiving the advantages that may be derived from 
it, might heedlessly, either diminish the sphere of its utility, or terminate its 
existence. 

The wishes which the founder of the American Republic has expressed for 
having a similar estabhshment in America, I also judged it expedient to publish, in 
the hope that the recommendation of so great a man will ultimately be adopted 
as soon as the necessary arrangements for that purpose can be made by the 
government of the United States. 

It may now be proper to give a brief account of the origin of the following 
correspondence. 

About the year 1790, 1 began to be engaged in those extensive inquiries relating 
to the general state of my native country, and the means of promoting its 
improvement, which Avere not only interesting to Great Britain, but to every 
civilized part of the world; and having resolved to send the first papers which were 

* See Letter No. III., 10th July, 1795. 



9 

printed on those subjects to several distinguished characters in foreign and distant 
countries, I could not think of neglecting an individual so pre-eminently conspicuous 
as the President of the United States of America. In answer to the first letter I 
had the honour of addressing to him, I received the communication No. I., dated 
the 20th day of October, 1792. 

I embraced every opportunity of transmitting, from time to time, the additional 
papers which were afterwards printed on the subjects of our correspondence, 
accompanied by letters, of only one of which I have a copy, in which I endeavoured 
to demonstrate the advantages which might be derived from establishing a Board 
of Agriculture in America. Of that letter, I beg leave to subjoin the following 
extract, as it tends to explain more fully General Washington's answer of the 6th 
day of March, 1797, stating the circumstances which at that time prevented the 
immedia*": adoption of that measure. 

EXTRACT OF A LETTER PROM SIR JOHN SINCLAIR TO GENERAL WASHINGTON, 
DATED WHITEHALL, LONDON, 10th SEPTEMBER, 1796. 

" The people of this country, as well as of America, learn, with infinite regret, 
that you propose resigning your situation as President of the United States. I 
shall not enter into the discussion of a question of which I am incompetent to 
judge; but, if it be so, I hope that you will recommend some Agricultural 
establishment on a great scale before you quit the reins of government. By that I 
mean a Board of Agriculture, or some similar institution, at Philadelphia, with 
Societies of Agriculture in the capital of each state, to correspond with it. Such 
an establishment would soon enable the farmers of America to acquire agricultural 
2 



10 

knowledge, and, what is of equal importance, aflbrd them the means of communi- 
cating what they have learnt to their countrymen. 

" I scarcely think that any government can be properly constituted without such 
an establishment. As mere individuals, four things are necessary: 1, food; 2, 
clothing; 3, shelter; 4, mental improvement. As members of a large community, 
four other particulars seem to be essential; namely: 1, property; 2, marriage; 3. 
laws for our direction in this world; and, 4, religion to prepare us for another. 
But the foundation of the whole is food, and that country must be the happiest 
where that sine qua non can be most easily obtained. The surest means of securing 
abundance of food, however, is by ascertaining the best mode of raising it, and 
rousing a spirit of improvement for that purpose, for both of which the countenance 
and protection of the government of a country, through the medium of some public 
establishment, is essential. The trifling expense for which such an institution might 
be supported is another argument in its favour. 

" I am induced more particularly to dwell upon this circumstance, as it might be 
in my power, on various occasions, to give useful hints to America, were I satisfied 
that they would be duly weighed, and if approved of acled upon. For instance, you 
will herewith receive some Egyptian wheat, which produces at the rate of one 
hundred and eighty bushels per English acre. Indeed, without such a grain, so 
narrow a country as Egypt could never have fed such multitudes of people as it 
did in ancient times. I have no doubt of its thriving in America equally well. It 
also recently occurred to me, that in the southern states, other plants, as the New 
Zealand kind of hemp, might be raised in great perfection. But to introduce any 
new article of produce, the countenance, and in some cases the assistance, of the 



11 

government of a state is necessary. When once, however, the practicabihty of 
cultivating any article is ascertained, it cannot be of any real advantage to a nation 
if it stand in need of legislative aid. 

" But I have already tired your Excellency M'ith too long a dissertation, which I 
am persuaded you will attribute to its real cause, enthusiasm in favour of 
Agriculture, and respect for so valuable a friend to it as General Washington. 
For other particulars, I must refer to our intelligent friend Doctor Edwards, to 
whose charge I have taken the liberty of delivering a parcel, with some papers we 
have lately printed, &c. 

" It will give me much pleasure to be of any use to Mr. King, Mr. Gore, or Mr. 
PiNCKNEY, during their residence in England. Indeed, I have always felt a strong 
desire of showing every attention in my power to any American gentleman who 
may have visited this country; for though our governments are now distinct, the 
people are in fact the same, without any possible inducement to quarrel, if they 
knew their respective interests, and with every reason to wish each other well, and 
to promote their mutual prosperity. 

" Before I conclude, permit me to ask, is there no chance of seeing General 
Washington in England? I should be proud of his accepting an apartment in my 
house, and I am sure that he would meet with the most flattering reception in every 
part of the Island, but from none with more real attachment and regard, than 
from, &c." 

As it is a singular circumstance, that a person in such an exalted situation as 



12 

General Washington, should have leisure to write, with his own haiul, so many 
letters to an entire stranger, and some of them of considerable length, I have been 
induced to have them engraved in order to represent the hand-writing of their 
celebrated author: they are exact copies of those received by me. It is proposed 
to deposit the originals in the British Museum, as the precious relics of a great 
man, fit to be preserved in that valuable repository. 

It may be proper to add, that the following collection contains all the letters 1 
have received, with the exception of two, the first of which was marked private, and 
is mentioned in General Washington's letters of the 15th of July, and 6th of 
November, 1797. It is a long and interesting paper, which, however, it would not 
be proper to publish at this time. The other letter was of a late date, and alludes 
to circumstances of a nature which it would be improper at present to communicate 
to the public. 

To conclude, I hope that these letters will not only furnish much satisfactory 
information to the reader, as containing the sentiments of General Washington on 
agricultural and other important subjects, but will also display, to peculiar advan- 
tage, the character of the much respected author; and with the profits of the 
publication I trust it will be in my power to pay a proper tribute of respect to the 
memory of one, who, though the immediate cause of the separation between Great 
Britain and America, yet is the person to whom, in a great measure, is to be 
ascribed the good understanding which now so happily subsists between tlie two 
countries; and whose character must ever be revered, even by those with whom he 
contended, either in war or politics, as containing as much good, with as little alloy, 
as that of any individual whose memory is recorded in history. 

London, 29 Parliament Street, 1st March, 1800. 



Since this Work was sent to the press, I find that one of General Washington's 
most interesting letters has been lost. There is fortunately, however, an extract 
from it in the first volume of the Communications published by the Board of 
Agriculture, (p. 374,) a copy of which I beg leave to lay before the reader, from 
that publication, 

EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM HIS EXCELLENCY GEORGE WASHINGTON, DATED 

PHILADELPHIA, 10th DECEMBER, 1796. 

" The result of the experiments entrusted to the care of Dr. Fordyce, must be as 
curious as they may prove interesting to the science of husbandry. Not less so 
will be an intelligent solution of those queries relative to live stock, which are 
handed to the public. 

"A few months more, say the 3d of March next, (1797,) and the scenes of my 
political life will close, and leave me in the shades of retirement; when, if a few 
years are allowed me to enjoy it, (many I cannot expect, being upon the verge of 
sixty-five,) and health is continued to me, I shall peruse with pleasure and 
edification the fruits of the exertions of the Board for the improvement of 
agriculture; and shall have leisure, I trust, Jo realize some of the useful discoveries 
which have been made in the science of husbandry. 

"Until the above period shall have arrived, and particularly during the present 



14 

session of Congress, which commenced the 5th instant, I can give but Uttle 
attention to matters out of the hne of my immediate avocations. I did not, 
however, omit the occasion, at the opening of the session, to call the attention of 
that body to the importance of agriculture. What will be the result, I know not at 
present; but if it should be favourable, the hints which you will have it in your 
power to give cannot fail of being gratefully received by the members who may 
constitute the Board." 



EXTRACT FROM GENERAL WASHINGTON'S SPEECH ON THE OPENING OF 
CONGRESS, 5th DECEMBER 1796. 

" It will not be doubted, that, with reference either to individual or national 
welfare, Agriculture is of primary importance. In proportion as nations advance 
in population and other circumstances of maturity, this truth becomes more 
apparent, and renders the cultivation of the soil more and more an object of public- 
patronage. Institutions for promoting it grow up, supported by the public purse ; 
and to what object can it be dedicated with greater propriety? Among the means 
which have been employed to this end, none have been attended with greater 
success than the establishment of Boards, composed of proper characters, charged 
with collecting and difiusing information, and enabled by premiums, and small 
pecuniary aid, to encourage and assist a spirit of discovery and improvement. 
This species of establishment contributes doubly to the increase of improvement, by 
stimulating to enterprise and experiment, and by drawing to a common centre, the 
results everywhere of individual skill and observation, and spreading them thence 
over the whole nation. Experience accordingly has shown, that they are very 
cheap instruments of immense national benefits." 




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ON THE CHARACTER OF GENERAL WASHINGTON. 



Whoever has perused the preceding Letters will, I trust, concur with me in the 
following reflections. 



1. That nothing could possibly place the character of this distinguished statesman 
in a more estimable light, than that of beholding the same individual, whose 
military exploits had spread his fame over the universe, and who had been invested 
with supreme power in the country where he was born, in the midst of all his 
various public aVocations, carrying on an extensive correspondence with the native 
of a distant country, on agricultural and other genwal inquiries of a similar nature. 

2. That those who are blest with a reflecting and philosophic mind, must 
contemplate with pleasure and delight a person, elevated by the voice of his fellow- 
citizens to the summit of political authority, who, instead of wishing to aggrandize 
himself, and to extend his power, was anxiously bent to quit that situation, to which 
so many others would have fondly aspired, and to return to the comfort and 
enjo5anent of private life; belying thus the insinuations of those malignant spirits 
who are perpetually railing against the talents and virtues which, conscious of 
wanting themselves, they do not believe that others can possess. 

3. Is there, on the whole, any individual, either in ancient or modern history, 
who has prouder claims to distinction and pre-eminence, than the great character 

7 



62 

whose letters this volume contains? His military talents were early celebrated; 
first in the service of Great Britain, and afterwards in that of America. His 
powers as a statesman, and as the founder of a Constitution, which, with British 
prejudices, I may consider as inferior to our own, but which promises to secure the 
happiness of the great nation it was formed to govern, cannot possibly be 
questioned. His public virtue, as the uncorrupted magistrate of a free people, who 
reluctantly received supreme authority, when it was judged necessary for the public 
good for him to assume it, and who anxiously wished to resign it into their hands, 
when it could be done with public safety, can hardly be equalled in history. His 
literary endowments were unquestionably of a superior order. His letters in this 
collection, his addresses to the American Congress, and his farewell oration when 
he quitted, for the last time, the Presidency of the United States, are models of 
each species of composition. His closing a well-spent life, after a short illness, 
without having his strength or faculties impaired by any previous disorder, or any 
untoward circumstances having occurred that could materially affect his feelings, or 
could possibly tarnish his fame, is an uncommon instance of good fortune. The 
scene in which he acted also, and the object which he achieved, are the most 
memorable which history furnishes. For it was such a man alone, who, by 
combining the force and commanding the confidence of thirteen separate states, 
could have dissolved those ties which subjected America to Europe, and to whom 
the political separation of two worlds is to be attributed. But, above all, what 
distinguished this celebrated warrior and statesman is, that to all those military and 
public talents, and to those literary endowments, which are so rarely united in the 
same person, he added the practice of every virtue that could adorn the private 
individual. It were in vain for me to attempt adequately to express the ideas I 
entertain of a character, in every respect so peculiarly splendid. The pen of the 



63 

immortal Shakspeare is alone competent to the task, and on the tombstone of the 
illustrious Washington let it be engraved — 

His life was gentle, and the elements 

So mix'd in him, that Nature might stand up 

And say to all the world, — This was a yuan, 

take him for all in all, 

We shall not look upon his like again.* 

' Julius Caesar, Act V. Scene 5; and Hamlet, Act I. Scene 2. 



A TRUE AND BEAUTIFUL PORTRAIT 



OF THE 



CHARACTER OF GENERAL WASHINGTON, 

BY THE 

LATE HONORABLE GEORGE CANNING, 

PRIME MINISTER OP ENGLAND. 

General Washington was, we believe, in his sixty-eighth year. The height of 
his person was about five-feet eleven; his chest full, and his limbs, though rather 
slender, well shaped and muscular. His head was small, in which respect he 
resembled the make of a great number of his countrymen. His eyes were of a 
very light grey colour; and, in proportion to the length of his face, his nose was 
long. Mr. Stewart, the eminent portrait painter, used to say, there were features 
in his face totally different from what he had ever observed in that of any other 
human being; the sockets of his eyes, for instance, were larger than he had ever 
met with before, and the upper part of the nose broader. All his features, he 
observed, were indicative of the strongest passions, yet, like Socrates, his 
judgment, and great self-command, have always made him appear a man of different 
character in the eyes of the world. He always spoke with great diffidence, and 
sometimes hesitated for a word, but it was always to find one particularly well 
calculated to express his meaning. His language was manly and expressive. At 



65 

• 

levee, his discourse with strangers turned principally upon the subject of America ; 
and if they had been through any remarkable places, his conversation was free and 
particularly interesting, for he was intimately acquainted with every part of the 
country. He was much more open and free in his behaviour at the levee than in 
private, and in the company of ladies, still more so, than when solely with men. 
Few persons ever found themselves for the first time in the company of General 
Washington, without being impressed with a certain degree of veneration and awe; 
nor did those emotions subside on a closer acquaintance; on the contrary, his 
person and deportment, were such, as rather tended to augment them. The whole 
range of history does not present to our view, a character, upon which we can 
dwell with such entire and unmixed admiration. The long life of General Wash- 
ington, is not stained by a single blot. 

He was indeed a man of such rare endowments,^nd such fortunate temperament, 
that every action he performed, was alike exempted from the character of vice or 
weakness. Whatever he said, or did, or wrote, was stamped with a striking and 
peculiar propriety. All his qualities were so happily trended, and so nicely 
harmonized, that the result was a great and perfect whole; the powers of his mind, 
and the dispositions of his heart, were admirably suited to each other. It was the 
union of the most consummate prudence, with the most perfect moderation. His 
views, though large and liberal, were not extravagant; his virtues, though compre- 
hensive and beneficent, were discriminating, judicious, and practical; yet his 
character, though regular and uniform, possessed none of the littleness which may 
sometimes belong to those descriptions of men. It was formed a majestic pile, the 
effect of which was not impaired, but improved by order and symmetry; there was 
nothing in it to dazzle by wildness, or surprise by eccentricity. It was a higher 



66 

species of moral beauty; it contained everything great and elevated, but it had no 
false and tinsel ornament; it was not the model cried up by fashion and circum- 
stance; its excellence was adapted to the true and just moral taste, incapable of 
change from the varying accidents of manners and opinions. 

General Washington is not the Idol of a day, but the Hero of ages! Placed in 
circumstances of the most trying difficulty at the beginning of the American contest, 
he accepted that situation which was pre-eminent in danger and responsibility. 
His perseverance overcame every obstacle, conciliated every opposition; his genius 
supplied every resource. His enlarged views could plan, revise, and improve every 
branch of civil and military operation. He had the superior courage which can act, 
or forbear to act, as true policy dictates, careless of the reproaches of ignorance, 
either in power, or out of power. He knew how to conquer by waiting in spite of 
obloquy, for the moment of victory, and he merited true praise by despising 
unmerited censure. 

In the most arduoq^ movements of the contest, his prudent firmness proved the 
salvation of the cause which he supported. His conduct was on all occasions 
guided by the most pure disinterestedness. Far superior to low and grovelling 
motives, he seemed even to be uninfluenced by that ambition*which has justly been 
called, the instinct of great souls. He acted ever as if his country's welfare, and 
that alone, was the moving spring. His excellent mind needed not even the stimulus 
of ambition, or the prospect of fame. Glory was but a secondary consideration. 
He performed great actions, he persevered in a course of laborious utility, with an 
equanimity that neither sought distinction, nor was flattered by it; his reward was 
in the consciousness of his rectitude, and in the success of his patriotic eflbrts. 



67 

As his elevation to tiie chief power was the unbiassed choice of his countrymen, 
his exercise of it was agreeable to the purity of its origin; as he had neither solicited 
nor usurped dominion, he had neither to contend with rivals, nor the revenge of 
enemies. As his authority was undisputed, so it required no jealous precautions, 
no rigorous severity. His government was mild and gentle; it was beneficent and 
liberal; it was wise and just; his prudent administration, consolidated and enlarged 
the dominion of an infant republic. 

In voluntarily resigning the Magistracy which he had filled with such distinguished 
honour, he enjoyed the unequalled satisfaction of leaving to the state, he had 
contributed to establish, the fruits of his wisdom, and the example of his virtues. It 
is some consolation amidst the violence of ambition, and the criminal thirst of 
power, of which so many instances occur around us, to find a character whom it is 
honourable to admire, and virtuous to imitate. A conqueror for the freedom of his 
country! a legislator for its security! a magistrate for its happiness! his glories 
were never sullied by those excesses into which the highest qualities are apt to 
degenerate. With the greatest virtues, he was exempt from the corresponding 
vices. He was a man in whom the elements seemed so blended, that "Nature 
might have stood up to all the world," and owned him as her work. His fame, 
bound to no country, will be confined to no age. 

The character of General Washington, which his contemporaries regret and 
admire, will be transmitted to posterity, and the memory of his virtues, while 
patriotism and virtue are held sacred among men, will remain undiminished ! 

Peace to the memory of a man of Worth ! 



APPENDIX. 



No. I. 



THE FOLLOWING IS AN OFFICIAL AND PARTICULAR ACCOUNT OF THE ILLNESS AND DEATH OF 
THE ILLUSTRIOUS WASHINGTON, AS PUBLISHED BY THE PHYSICIANS WHO ATTENDED HIM. 

Some time in the night of Friday, the 13th December, having been exposed to a 
ram on the preceding day, General WAsmNOTON was attacked with an inflam- 
matory affection of the upper part of the windpipe, called in technical language, 
cynanche trachealis. The disease commenced with a violent ague, accompanied 
with some pain in the upper and fore part of the throat, a sense of stricture in the 
same part, a cough, and a difficult rather than a painful deglutition, which were 
soon succeeded by fever, and a quick and laborious respiration. The necessity of 
blood-letting suggesting itself to the General, he procured a bleeder in the 
neighbourhood, who took from his arm, in the night, twelve or fourteen ounces of 
blood. He would not by any means be prevailed upon by the family to send for 
the attending physician till the following morning, who arrived at Mount Vernon at 
about eleven o'clock on Saturday. Discovering the case to be highly alarming, 
and foreseeing the fatal tendency of the disease, two consulting physicians were 
immediately sent for, who arrived, one at half after three, the other at four o'clock 
in the afternoon. In the interim were employed two copious bleedings, a blister 
was applied to the part affected, two moderate doses of calomel were given, and an 
8 



70 

injection was administered, which operated on the lower intestines — but all without 
any perceptible advantage, the respiration becoming still more difficult and dis- 
tressing. 

Upon the arrival of the first of the consulting physicians, it was agreed, as there 
were yet no signs of accumulation in the bronchial vessels of the lungs, to try the 
result of another bleeding, when about thirty-two ounces of blood were drawn, 
without the smallest apparent alleviation of the disease. Vapours of vinegar and 
water were frequently inhaled; ten grains of calomel were given, succeeded by 
repeated doses of emetic tartar, amounting in all to five or six grains, with no other 
effect than a copious discharge from the bowels. The powers of life seemed now 
manifestly yielding to the force of the disorder. Blisters were applied to the 
extremities, together with a cataplasm of bran and vinegar to the throat. 
Speaking, which was painful from the beginning, now became almost impracticable; 
respiration grew more and more contracted and imperfect, till half after eleven 
o'clock on Saturday night, retaining the full possession of his intellect, when he 
expired without a struggle. 

He was fully impressed at the beginning of his complaint, as well as through 
every succeeding stage of it, that its conclusion would be mortal; submitting to the 
several exertions made for his recovery rather as a duty, than from any expectation 
of their efficacy. He considered the operations of death upon his system as coeval 
with the disease; and several hours before his decease, after repeated efforts to be 
understood, succeeded in expressing a desire that he might be permitted to die 
without interruption. 



71 

During the short period of his illness, he economized his time in the arrangement 
of such few concerns as required his attention, with the utmost serenity, and 
anticipated his approaching dissolution with every demonstration of that equanimity 
for which his whole life has been so uniformly and singularly conspicuous. 

JAMES CRAIK, Attending Physician. 
ELISHA C. DICK, Consulting Physician. 



72 

No. II. 

The melancholy event of General Washington's Death was announced to the 
President of the United States in the following Letter from Mr. Lear, who is 
mentioned by the General in his Letter of July 20th, 1794. 

Mount Vernon, Dec. 16, 1799. 
Sir, 

It is with ine.xpressible grief that I have to announce to you the death of the 
great and good General Washington. He died last evening between ten and 
eleven o'clock, after a short illness of about twenty-four hours. His disorder was 
an inflammatory sore throat, which proceeded from a cold, of which he made but 
little complaint on Friday. On Saturday morning about three o'clock he became 
ill. Dr. Dick attended him in the morning, and Dr. Craik, of Alexandria, and Dr. 
Brown, of Port Tobacco, %vere soon after called in. Every medical assistance was 
afforded, but without the desired effect. His last scene corresponded with the 
whole tenor of his life. Not a groan, not a complaint escaped him in e.xtreme 
distress. With perfect resignation, and a full possession of his reason, he closed 

his well spent life. 

T0BIAS LEAR. 

The President of the United States. 

It is unnecessary to add, that the intelligence of this distressing event was 
rapidly spread throughout all America, and received with the deepest symptoms of 
sorrow and regret; nor was there any part of Europe, where those who felt any 
respect for integrity and virtue, did not consider the death of General Washington 
as a public calamity. 

RB 13 6. 




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